In his rookie season with the Atlanta Falcons, Xavier Watts was not only as good as advertised, he was much better. Jessie Bates III is already starting to pass him the baton as the new leader of Atlanta's secondary, and frankly, drafting Watts has made the James Pearce Jr. trade well worth it.
His five interceptions were tied for second in the NFL, while he logged 11 passes defensed and came up just short of 100 tackles. For a player who Terry Fontenot was able to draft in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, that's some great value, which is why he was a Defensive Rookie of the Year finalist.
After making a stupendous first impression in the NFL, the 24-year-old is being rewarded as such. The NFL announced its performance-based play initiative, which is a new form of compensation players will receive which hinges on both playing time and their season salary, and Watts was a major beneficiary.
Watts was one of the highest earners from the new model, as he finished inside of the top 25 in performance-based pay in 2025. He finished 11th in the NFL in this area, where he made an extra $1.1 million from a metric where he wasn't the only Falcons player who stood to benefit from this.
Xavier Watts received a major bonus from the NFL for a big rookie year
Like I mentioned, the Notre Dame product wasn't the only representation for the Dirty Birds. Right tackle Elijah Wilkinson made the third-most money from performance-based pay, but the weird part is that he really wasn't even that good, he just played a lot of snaps due to injuries to other tackles ahead of him on the depth chart. And he said some ugly words after leaving in free agency.
However, unlike Wilkinson, Watts deserved every penny of this pay raise. He picked off NFL MVP Matthew Stafford twice in the Falcons' upset of the Los Angeles Rams in Week 17, and was one of the best defenders on the team right from the get go. And for a safety, that type of impact is rare.
The Falcons' entire 2025 rookie class looked great sans Pearce's uncertain NFL future after his arrest, but even he was fantastic when he was on the field. But perhaps the most impressive of them all was Watts, since I still don't understand how he fell so far down the draft board after two unanimous All-American nominations.
Jeff Ulbrich deserves his credit for helping develop him, but his talent was never in question. The youth culture in this Atlanta defense is giving fans something to be excited about amid some offensive red flags, and Watts has all the makings of a franchise cornerstone for the Falcons.